Back In The Edu-Dungeon.

I drew this on the pupil free day at school, as I was setting up my class for the year.

In fact, this was very much a departure from my “Summer Process” where I can take hours upon hours to be focused on a piece, and get it “just right.” This was done, as is the original “Adequacy Process” between tasks, on a clipboard, in pencils. It was kind of great to get back to the process as I have pretty much always done it, sort of “back to basics.” Sunday’s post had a similar approach, but with more focus.

I didn’t really know what to draw, so I simply at down, and started to compose a page. I went with trying to express the feeling of the day, which oddly, seems to be one of unease. The protagonist, the Quislet and Princess Pony seem…unsure, or at least mildly troubled. It probably has a whole lot in common with how I always feel right before school starts for a year. I never sleep well, and generally have a whole lot of worry and trepidation.

It’s odd that this might be the case, because the last year was fantastic. I saw some of my students on the pupil free day (they were enrolling as juniors) and that was…most excellent. The idea that there might be anxiety, isolation, and worry…it seems odd.

Or maybe not. My partner teacher, who I mentored in her first year, actually had an anxiety attack that warranted a trip to the hospital to be “checked out.” Thankfully, she is fine, but plenty of teachers, I think, have this kind of stress or anxiety beforehand. It would be great if I could just somehow put it aside, get rid of it as the spurious thing that it is, but eighteen years in, it seems to still cling to me.

The art of course shows one of the walls of the Edu-Dungeon, that remote and repurposed part of the Edu-Mountain that the protagonist has been given. She’s wearing the outfit she wore for second semester, but I’m not really sure how much I want to stick with that. It’s fine, and often involves the Noodle Cape, but it also came about from feeling a bit marginalized, which isn’t the case right now. I also can’t see her going back to the usual Edu-Mountain uniform, and I hate costume design.

Tomorrow at least, she is in one of the outfits she wore last week, and at least once in the past year. Arguably, she could keep wearing that, it’s easy enough to draw…a big selling point. I’m not sure though…the jury is out. Feel free to weigh in on the costume you’d like to see, or any suggestions. If you go through the backlog, our hero has a pretty deep wardrobe, even though I tend to forget that fact.

See…that up there? That’s what bloggers call “engagement.” It’s an attempt to get their followers to comment or participate in the creative process. I’m just saying, I’ve opened the door.

And…as good educators are supposed to do, I’ve given some “wait time.” In school, that means that a teacher asks a question, and then waits a certain amount of time before calling on someone, even if hands are up. This gives everyone the chance to confidently participate, and is supposed to reduce stress.

See? I’m already back to thinking like a teacher.

For those of you wondering, “Where was Monday’s post?”…it didn’t happen. I spent some time creating a small buffer of art and content, just in case things get very stressful, and I am unable to properly draw…that way I won’t miss future days, that would have more interesting content. The summer has been idyllic, and I have been reaching for filler anyway.